Automobile safety testing, as mandated by state authorities and as may be employed to maintain an automobile in proper operating condition, includes a plurality of procedures which test a variety of the operating systems of the vehicle. To provide increased test facility throughput, as well as to provide more accuracy and consistency in the testing procedures, there has been an emphasis on automated test programs and routines. Present day test facilities are accordingly increasingly automated, with many test functions being carried out under the control of a computerized test system.
The checking of headlights for alignment and output is often a component of such test routines. It has heretofore been difficult, however, to develop and adapt automated procedures to such headlight testing. Typically, manual test equipment has been unsuccessfully adapted to automated systems. Such attempts have failed to sufficiently automate the procedure, and still require significant operator intervention and accordingly introduce the risk of significant error into the procedure.
It is accordingly a purpose of the present invention to provide an automated system for automobile headlight testing which avoids the shortcoming of the prior art.
A further purpose of the present invention is to provide an automated headlight testing system and apparatus which can be implemented and utilized without the need for significant operator assistance. Still another object of the present invention is to provide such a test system and apparatus which allows headlight testing to be performed in a rapid manner.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a headlight test system which can easily compensate for variations in headlight location, and which is adaptable for a wide variety of headlight configurations and positioning.
Another object of the invention is to provide a headlight test system which can be incorporated into or utilized in association with automated vehicle test apparatus.